Teenagers experience college life at Duchy

Published: July 25, 2016

Duchy College Rosewarne (part of The Cornwall College Group) played host to nearly 100 teenagers from across the county last week who took part in a day of hands-on, outdoor learning at the specialist land-based college.

The year 10 students were invited to the Rosewarne campus for its ‘experience day’ and given the opportunity to participate in a wide range of activities, and explore which courses are available to them after school that could start them on the road to successful and fulfilling careers in the land-based industry.

Students from Cape Cornwall, Falmouth, Mounts Bay, Penair, Penryn, Pool Academy, Redruth, Richard Lander and St Ives all spent the day at Duchy College Rosewarne as a college student.

One 15-year-old from Mounts Bay said: “I enjoyed the experience day, especially feeding and cleaning out the mice.” Another 15-year-old from St Ives said: “I’m interested in studying animal care or equine at college and the experience day allowed me to see the animals and drive the tractor. I’m now more likely to apply to study at Duchy after I finish school.”

The aim of the experience days is for students to get a real feel for college life and explore what opportunities are available to them post-16. Sessions included animal management, which combined handling of the rodents and exotics and observing their behaviour, agriculture incorporated safe tractor driving and learning about the range of agricultural machinery and the countryside session involved using the traditional woodturning lathe as a tool and monitoring and identifying different species of wildlife.

Head of Campus for Duchy College Rosewarne, Carol Knight, added: “This was a great opportunity for the teenagers to get an experience of college life. We have a fantastic provision at Rosewarne and are proud of our success. We hope to see many of the students again in the future pursing their passion.”